Tag questions
are something like negative questions. They
are
used when someone thinks he or she knows an answerand
wants confirmation. There are two very commonly usedtypes
of tag questions--one made from affirmative
( + )sentences, the other made from negative ( - ) sentences:

He's from Italy, isn't he?
/He isn't from Italy, is he?

She's living in London, isn't
she? /She isn't living in London, is she?

There were at the party, weren't
they? /They weren't at the party, were they?

She's lived here a long time,
hasn't she? /She hasn't lived here a long time,
has she?

They'd left when you arrived,
hadn't they? /They hadn't left when you arrived,
had they?

He can help us, can't he?
/He can't help us, can he?

etc.

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Tag
Questions:Intonation

Statements are normally said with falling intonation. Yes / No
questions are normally said with rising intonation. The intonation
of tag endings
is different from both of these.

In tag questions, the tag
endings (for example, isn't he?, is he?,hadn't
they?,can he? ) have
two different intonations:

falling intonation

and

rising intonation

The intonation (falling /
rising) of the tag endings is in additionto the intonation of the statement to
which the tag ending is attached.This means that after the normal intonation
(falling) of the statement,there will be the intonation of the tag ending (falling
or rising):

Question 4 is difficult,isn't it?

Question 4 is difficult, isn't it?

The falling
or rising intonation of the tag endings communicatesdifferent information.

Tag
EndingswithFalling Intonation

When someone asks a tagquestion and the question tag
hasfallingintonation, the person
who asks the questions is fairly sure thatthe statementbefore the tag ending is correct. Because thepersonasking
the question is not 100% sure, however, he or she stillwants confirmation.

Example:

I think a question is difficult
and wantto know if you
feel thesame way, so I say

When someone asks a tag question
and the tag has risingintonation, the person
who asks the question is much less surethat the
statement before the tag ending is correct. However,he
or she still wants confirmation:

Example:

I think I have the answer
for question 4but am
not very sure.I want to see ifyou agree with me (or if you will tell me whatthe answer is), so
I say